Just for Now
by iheartmyscarf
Summary: Hermione sneaks into the hospital wing after Ron is poisoned, and the two share their thoughts and apologies.  RxHr


Hi everyone! I wrote this story because I don't want to wait so long for Ron/Hermione fluffiness… even though the new book is out in like, 2 weeks. So, enjoy, and yeah.

**Disclaimer:**

I do not own Harry Potter, or any of the characters. I am simply a fluff-starved teenager who had an idea for a story!

Hermione awoke with a start. She had just had the most awful dream, one that left her in a cold sweat. In her dream, she was running up the stairs as quickly as she could to get to the hospital wing, but they never seemed to end. When she finally arrived, they wouldn't let her in, saying there had been a death. At this point, she saw a body being carried out under a sheet, but nobody seemed to want to say who it was. She had looked under the sheet, to see the lifeless body of Ron, and the feeling of utmost terror and disbelief had swept through her, a feeling so vivid she had not recovered from the shock, even as she regained consciousness. She was still in the hospital wing, where she had been sitting by Ron all night, sneaking in after his family had left.

_I must have fallen asleep_, she thought to herself, looking up at the clock. Looking down at Ron, she remembered the image of Ron's body under the sheet, and tears sprang to her eyes. The scariest bit was the fact that her dream had come awfully close to being a reality. Why had this happened? Ron had been poisoned. She couldn't hold it in anymore, and unwelcome tears leaked out of her eyes. Ron Weasley had almost died. And he was her friend, even though he had not acted like it for the past few weeks. How could he go about snogging Lavender? It was absolutely shameless of him. And the way Lavender talked about him made her sick. With her it was always about her special Won-Won, the love of her life. Hermione wanted nothing more than to hit Lavender as hard as she could when she said things like that. She acted as if Ron belonged to her, that he loved her back. He couldn't love her back, could he?

_Maybe he does, if the fact that he is willing to risk his friendship with me to be with her is any indication, _she thought angrily.

_I mean really, I probably shouldn't be here anyway. He'll not want to see me, he'll be wanting to see Lavender. Why did I come? It was pointless. Besides, I don't even want to be friends with Ron if he's going to be so terrible to me. _Though she tried to convince herself that she was angry, that didn't stop tears of sadness from rolling down her face in abundance. She was about to leave when Ron awoke groggily from his deep slumber. He looked about with a puzzled expression on his face, which grew deeper when he saw Hermione.

"'Mione, that you? What's going on?" Hermione drew a shaky breath.

"You've been-" she made a choking sound. "Oh, Ron, you've been poisoned…" She broke off, and Ron thought he heard a sobbing noise.

"Poisoned? Who by?" He tried to get up, but it made his head and chest hurt. Hermione shook her head, and said quietly,

"You drank poisoned mead of Slughorn's. Harry saved you." Ron frowned even more.

"Slughorn poisoned me? That seems a bit weird… I mean, I knew he didn't think me very important, or anything, but that's no reason to poison me, is it?" He sounded indignant. Sitting up so suddenly that he didn't have time to remember it was a bad idea, he clutched his chest and coughed. Hermione began rubbing his back concernedly, and then eased him into a sitting position, his body propped up by pillows leaning against the bed.

"Ron, be careful," Hermione said quietly. "And it wasn't Slughorn, he didn't know it was poisoned. Harry said he poured a glass for himself and everything, and that they were all about to drink it when you began to choke. Harry was quick enough to fetch a bezoar and get it to you in time…" She stopped, not wanting to think of what would have happened had he not. Ron smiled weakly.

"Well, I'm lucky he did, aren't I?" He very much wanted to kiss Hermione at the moment, or something along those lines. She was here in the middle of the night, sitting by his bed. Only her, and that was really all he wanted, though him lying in the hospital wing was not exactly what he pictured in his fantasies.

"I'm very glad you're here, Hermione. I didn't expect you would come and see me at all." Hermione seemed suddenly to change her mood.

"I suppose you were hoping someone else would be here? Lavender, perhaps?" Her voice was icy. "Well, in that case, I should really be going." She rose to exit, and Ron hastily corrected himself.

"No, Hermione, don't go. I want you here, honestly." Hermione didn't turn around for a moment, then she suddenly spoke.

"Do you love her?" She asked.

"What?" This was not what Ron had expected to hear. Hermione turned around.

"Do you love her?" Repeated Hermione, her voice becoming a bit more emotional then she would have liked. Ron answered immediately.

"No," he said, looking straight at Hermione, who refused to make eye contact with him.

"Well then, why are you with her?" Ron knew what he wanted to say to her, but it was too embarrassing.

"I dunno… I guess I was just bored. And Ginny was right, I never had a girlfriend, and Lavender was… well, you know…."

"Willing to do a bit of snogging?" Hermione said coolly. Ron's ears turned scarlet.

"Well, yeah…." He said guiltily. "But it wasn't just that…. I mean, I guess I was jealous. I was the last one to have someone. You had Krum, Harry had Cho, and I had… well, nobody." He decided that his dreams of Hermione did not count, as she seemed to not want to have anything to do with him at the moment. Hermione finally looked at him.

"You still didn't have to do what you did, you know. You could have waited. Maybe there's someone in the world for you that will mean more than Lavender… someone who you truly love." She was blushing furiously, and turned away to hide it. Ron was speechless. Did she mean what he thought?

_No, couldn't be_, he told himself. _She hates me right now_. Nevertheless, there was a part of his mind that needed it to be true, to convince himself that everything was already alright, and he didn't need to do anything to make it better. Hermione came and sat on his bed, making Ron's heart skip a beat. He hadn't been close to her in ages, and it made him realise how nice she smelled. He finally spoke, wanting to keep her sitting with him.

"I'm sorry, Hermione," he said softly. "I know what I did was wrong, and to tell you the truth, I'm doing my best to end what I started. And I know that's not really something I do often, but it's true." Hermione forced a half-hearted smile, but Ron could tell she was on the verge of tears again. Desperate to stop her from getting more upset, he grabbed her hand and began stroking it with his thumb. "Hermione, don't cry…" Hermione sniffed. "I'm not," she insisted, though her voice shook. Ron kept holding her hand, and whispering words of comfort to her, though he was trying very hard to keep his mind off of how good her hand felt in his. Hermione suddenly gave out, and it was like a dam bursting. She began to sob, and Ron pulled her into a hug. He held her close, grinning despite the pain in his chest and the fact that Hermione was distraught. She looked up at him, tears streaking her face.

"I'm sorry, Ron. I was just thinking… you could have died. And until a few minutes ago, I was more concerned about you and Lavender. I just feel so awful… I got mad and what if… what if I never saw you again? What if you weren't alright, and the last memory I had of you was the way I've been seeing you these past weeks? I hated you, Ron… Well, at least I thought I did. I don't want that to happen… Ron, please..." Ron had never seen her look more vulnerable and scared. His heart ached when he saw her like this, but at the same time he was noticing that she was lying on the bed next to him, and she was very close… He swallowed hard.

"Hermione… it's okay. I was mad at you too, but I know we'll always be friends." He smiled a little bit, and looked at her. Hermione managed a small smile as well, and rested her head on his chest.

"Thanks, Ron." Ron stroked her hair gently, and closed his eyes. Though he wondered what would happen when they woke up, it wasn't important right now. And while it wasn't exactly what he pictured when he thought of getting close to Hermione, he couldn't think of anything better than just holding her for now, as they both drifted off to sleep.


End file.
